Thursday, May 2, 2024
Dave Eagle, left, and Jeremy SoRelle
Hood County Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle has sent letters by certified mail to Granbury City Attorney Jeremy SoRelle, Mayor Jim Jarratt, and members of the City Council clarifying, correcting, and retracting claims he made in a letter to city officials in which he accused SoRelle of “stalking” him.
Eagle’s retraction letter, dated June 1, was in response to a demand letter from SoRelle dated May 3 in which SoRelle threatened to sue the county elected official for “defamatory statements” that constituted both libel and slander under the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
Eagle had 30 days upon receipt of the letter to respond or risk a lawsuit.
The episode began when Eagle sent a letter dated Feb. 14 by certified mail to city leaders threatening possible legal action due to SoRelle’s alleged stalking and harassment of him.
The letter accused SoRelle of taking a photograph outside the courthouse on the afternoon of Feb. 2 when county offices were closed due to winter weather.
Eagle, whose office is in the courthouse, was there that day with his friend Nathan Criswell, who he said had brought a hammer at his request to break up ice on the courthouse steps.
A photo of Criswell leaving the courthouse appeared later that day on the Hood County Killer Whale Facebook page along with a post from “Leroy Phoenix” speculating on why the two were there on a day when county offices were closed. Criticisms of Eagle, Criswell, and others involved in local politics appear frequently on that Facebook page.
Eagle’s letter referred to SoRelle as a “rogue employee” and accused him of being Phoenix.
SoRelle is not an employee of the city. The city contracts with him for legal services.
SoRelle works for the Hyde Law Firm. The firm’s owner, Paul Hyde, also owns the Hyde Media Group, which owns the Hood County News.
Criswell filed a report with the Sheriff’s Office after the courthouse incident listing himself as the “complainant” and Eagle as the “subject.” The Sheriff’s Office determined that no crime occurred.
EAGLE RETRACTS
For “clarification,” Eagle explained in his June 1 letter that evidence at the time led him to believe that SoRelle “could very well have been” the person who posts on Facebook under the name “Leroy Phoenix.”
The Hood County News obtained a copy of the June 1 letter through open records.
By way of “correction and retraction,” Eagle’s one-and-a-half-page letter states, “Some weeks later, it was determined that someone else was posing as ‘Leroy Phoenix,’ not you. Based on this later-discovered information, I was incorrect in my opinion that you were ‘Leroy Phoenix’ and I hereby retract any statement I may have made about you that implied or suggested or accused you of being one and the same as ‘Leroy Phoenix.’ It follows that if you were not acting as the fake anonymous Facebook character that goes by the name ‘Leroy Phoenix,’ then you could not have been the one who was stalking and harassing me.”
SORELLE RESPONDS
In an email to the HCN, SoRelle indicated that he is satisfied with Eagle’s response.
“Of course, I expected some level of diversion in a veiled attempt to justify his rationale for the ludicrous allegations made against me,” he wrote. “However, at the end of the day, Mr. Eagle’s correction and retraction meets the requirements of the law.”
He further stated, in part, “In the future, I would hope that Mr. Eagle, or anyone for that matter, would take the time to engage in actual fact finding before relying on unjustified inferences, or imaginary social media commentary for the basis of personal attacks on others.”
